India and European Investment Bank (EIB) signed a finance contract for the first tranche loan of Euro 250 million for the Agra Metro rail project on Thursday.
Last year in December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the construction work of the Agra Metro project. And, the EIB had approved a total loan of Euro 450 million to fund the metro project.
The financing from EIB will help to fund the construction of a 29.4 km metro corridor comprised of Corridor-1 from Sikandara to Taj East Gate (14 km) and Corridor-2 from Agra Cantt to Kalindi Vihar (15.4 km) in the Agra City.
The Agra Metro Project will connect major tourist attractions like Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Sikandra with railway stations as well as ISBT, Raja Ki Mandi Railway Station, Medical College, Agra Cant Railway Station, Collectorate, Sanjay Place, and surrounding densely populated residential areas.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the Agra Metro Rail Project will benefit the 26 lakh population of the city of Agra and will also cater to more than 60 lakh tourists who visit Agra every year. It will provide an environment-friendly Mass Rapid Transit System to the historic city of Agra. The estimated cost of the project will be ₹8,379.62 crores which will be completed in 5 years.
‘Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation’, a 50:50 jointly owned Company of Govt of India and Govt. of Uttar Pradesh has been reconstituted as ‘Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC)’ for implementation of the project.
The proposed corridors will be having Multimodal Integration with Railway Stations &BRTS Stations and will have a feeder network of Bus, Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) and Non-Motorized Transport (NMT).
